Wimbledon champion Vondrousova withdraws from Adelaide tournament

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ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova withdrew from the Adelaide International tournament on Tuesday due to a hip problem, five days before the Australian Open began in Melbourne.

Vondrousova, seventh in the rankings, withdrew hours before her first-round match against Russia’s Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who came from qualifying.

Taylor Townsend will take over his spot in the infield.

Sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko saw Sorana Cirstea break serve at 5-2 in the third set and lost two match points in the next game before eventually prevailing 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The 2017 Roland Garros champion will face Caroline García, who defeated local Tayla Preston 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, who entered the tournament with a wild card.

“I feel like I fell asleep in the first set,” Ostapenko said. “I’m not a morning person, I needed time to get into the game. “When I start taking my time and calming down, I play better.”

Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova defeated former number one Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1, after winning 10 games in a row.

Two days after helping Germany win the United Cup final, Laura Siegemund needed almost three hours to beat seventh-ranked Liudmila Samsonova 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4, recovering from breaks in the second and third set.

At the ATP tournament in Adelaide, Australian Jordan Thompson continued ahead after beating Rafael Nadal last week in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Facundo Díaz Acosta to advance to the second-round match. round against Lorenzo Musetti, fourth seed.

Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, suffered a break when serving to win the match and ended up losing 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to number 73, Chinese tennis player Yuan Ye. Stephens was coming off a second-round loss last week at the Brisbane International, her first tournament since September.

Also in Hobart, sixth seed Sofia Kenin, who won the Australian Open and reached the Roland Garros final in 2020, opened with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Greet Minnen.

Ninth-seeded Tatjana Maria was leading 6-1, 4-3 when Nadia Podoroska retired from her match.

OSAKA AND RADUCANU EXHIBITION DUEL SUSPENDED

An exhibition match between Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu was called off after the two-time Australian Open champion withdrew as a “precautionary measure.”

The match had been scheduled at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, the first of several exhibition matches scheduled at the venue this week before the first major of the season.

Osaka played her first competitive matches since late 2022 at the Brisbane International last week, as she prepared to return to Grand Slam tournaments.

The four-time major champion gave birth to a daughter, Shai, last July.